Welcome to Chi Garden Ecological Farm and Fermentation Kitchen

Food as Medicine, Farm as Livelihood.

Chi Garden is a small, 1.5-acre ecological urban farm at Just Food Community Farm (2391 Pépin Court). We’ve been growing here since 2017. We were certified organic by Ecocert until 2024. Today, we continue the same organic standards through a peer-audited, community-based, self-reporting organic verification system.

This website hosts our online shop for a select range of specialty crop seeds, fermented foods, and small-batch kitchen preserves—including mushroom oil, saag, and herbal perilla drinks.

At Chi Garden, everything begins with the soil. We care for our land through regenerative, nature-based practices that build a living soil food web and support resilient plants and nutrient-dense harvests. Healthy soil grows healthy food—and healthy food is medicine. We also keep a small flock of laying hens, whose manure helps nourish our soil and close the fertility loop.

Asian vegetables from afar more often than not, are not organic in local goceries. We specialize in uncommon and rare Asian vegetables and seeds, stewarding both biodiversity and the cultural knowledge carried by these plants. One of our signature offerings, our Diversity Salad, reflects our belief that food is medicine—an idea deeply resonant with Traditional Chinese Medicine and everyday nourishment.

From May to November, we make a vibrant, ever-changing salad mix of about 20 vegetables, herbs, and wild edibles—selected from both East and West for flavor, nutrition, and curiosity.

We preserve much of our harvest through lacto-fermentation, extending the life and vitality of our crops. We offer 20+ cultured pickles year-round. Beginning in Spring 2026, our on-farm, certified fermentation kitchen will also become a space for learning and exchange—sharing fermentation skills, cultures, and practices with community members and growers.

As new immigrants, we are continually learning and re-learning—drawing inspiration from local growers, First Nations communities, and East Asian foodways. We work to reduce outside inputs wherever possible, lowering our carbon footprint both in the garden and in how we bring food to community.

Through cultivating diversity, we envision Chi Garden as more than a farm: a place for conversation, cultural connection, and imagining shared futures.

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Dear Friends,

The season has flown by so quickly. We started in May, when the maples were just budding and we still had to dress in layers. Now, as October draws to a close and we say goodbye to the season and to the Main Market 2025 today, we find ourselves layering up again for single-digit temperatures. But there will be a great salad mix, tomatoes, sweet potatoes greens, and many varieties of preserves including three miso choices!

We want to take a moment to thank you for your support, encouragement, feedback, and all the wonderful conversations. Last week, when the red maples in the park were at their peak of autumn rhapsody, I looked back at our small tent from afar and felt a deep sense of gratitude. Our customers have inspired us in many ways, with the questions you asked, the stories you shared, and the images of those small seedlings that grew strong and bore fruit in your gardens. Each connection reminds us that peace is possible when we stay rooted in the same living world.

We are proud to have been your farmers, and your kimchi and natto makers this year.
And yes, tofu will make its return next season!

Keep well and enjoy winter,
Sun Shan, Li Bo, and Jerry

P.S. We will be at the Sunday Lansdowne market in November for three weekends. Come by to see us. December 6-7 will be the holiday market at Just Food Community Farm and we will send out a note before then.

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Chi Garden
Farm & Kitchen

As a Ecological Farm and Fermentation Kitchen, we first take care of soil, by practicing regenerative, no till, nature farming. Healthy soil food web takes care of vegetables, so that they are nutrient-dense and contain loads of healing elements.

"FOOD IS MEDICINE"

- Sun' Shan & Li' Bo

Chi Garden Ecological Farm & Fermentation Kitchen

contact us

Phone

+1 613 981 4568

Email

Chigarden2015@gmail.com

Address

2391 Pepin Ct. Ottawa, k1B 4Z3 ON, Canada

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